Talking to a bunch of your buds just got a whole lot less costly for Skype users.

Folks who prefer their long-distance communications to be of the face-to-face variety have a new option for multi-person pow-wows, as Skype announced on Monday that group video calling is now a free feature on the desktop version of the Windows Skype client, Macs, and the Xbox One, with support for additional platforms--including the Modern UI Skype app baked into Windows 8.1--coming in the future.

Previously, at least one caller needed an $8.99 per month Skype Premium subscription to organize a group video chat. Google Hangouts has offered group video calling for free for several years now; with Google+ chief Vic Gundotra recently leaving Google for greener pastures, the Microsoft-owned Skype appears to be striking while the iron is hot.